Extracurricular Bible Study As Valid As Bird-watching

August 31, 1985|By James J. Kilpatrick, Universal Press Syndicate

WASHINGTON — A little more than a year ago, Congress passed the Equal Access Act. The act said, in brief, that in high schools benefiting from public funds, student religious groups must be given the same access to school facilities that is given other groups.

That equitable proposition horrified the American Civil Liberties Union. Throughout the land, Chicken Littles of the liberal left cried that the sky was falling. Horrid visions were raised: Our high schools would be overrun with swamis, gurus, bell ringers and sawdust messiahs. The cultists would take over, and before the school day began, our children would be handling rattlesnakes or sipping Kool-Aid cocktails. A calamitous future lay ahead.

Well, it hasn't worked out that way at all, but the delicate problem of student religious groups has led to a court case that merits our attention. The case is Bender vs. Williamsport Area School District. It will be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 15.

The facts are not in dispute. The Williamsport High School, which is north of Harrisburg, Pa., houses 2,500 students on a 147-acre campus. The school day begins at 7:45 with a 12-minute homeroom period. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, before actual classes begin, the homeroom period is followed by a 30-minute period for voluntary extracurricular student activities.

Two years ago (this was before the Equal Access Act was passed), 45 students formed a club called Petros. Their purpose was to discuss the Bible and to pray. They agreed not to publicize their meetings through the school's bulletin boards or student newspaper. Principal Wayne Newton authorized an initial meeting of the group, but the district superintendent and the school board then sought the advice of their legal counsel. When it appeared that to tolerate the meetings of Petros might be to support an establishment of religion, further meetings were prohibited.

The students went to court. In the district court, they won a right to hold their meetings. On appeal by a member of the school board, they lost that right. Now the case will be decided by the Supreme Court, and even though the act does not directly apply, the effect will be to say whether the Equal Access Act will pass constitutional muster.

Twenty-five other student groups at Williamsport High School are meeting during the pre-school period, including a bird-watching society.

In the name of the Founding Fathers, how can it make a constitutional difference if a voluntary student group is talking about birds or Bibles? Government is supposed to be ''content neutral'' in these matters. The basic principle of a free society lies in the accommodation of diversity. In this case there is no element of compulsion; there is no peer pressure. Under school policy a faculty member sits in on the meeting of every student group, but only to check attendance and to preserve order. To contend that Pennsylvania is fostering ''an establishment of religion'' by treating the members of Petros in the same way that chess players and bird-watchers are treated is absurd.

One suggestion is that Petros meet somewhere else, but the nearest house is a mile away and the period is only 30 minutes long. By offering not to seek the routine publicity accorded other student groups, these students have bent over backward to avoid any ''entanglement'' of church and state. Their plea is to be treated as others are treated. In a nation pledged to the free exercise of religion, it seems little enough to ask.